Back end thin film capacitor structures according to the prior art “compete” with interconnect metallization routing in the metallization layers of a semiconductor device. Document US 2007/0170546 A1 discloses a back end thin film capacitor structure having a thin film capacitor comprising a top plate which is located in a metallization layer of a semiconductor device. However, this top plate of the capacitor takes valuable floor space in the metallization routing layer.
Thin film capacitors according to the prior art, for example a metal-insulator-metal capacitor (MIM capacitor), consume area in the interconnect level it is been built on. For example, an area which is occupied by a top plate or by a bottom plate of a thin film capacitor is not available for regular metallization routing in the metallization layer. Frequently, chip size increases or a level of interconnects increases due to the addition of a thin film capacitor in a semiconductor structure.